Top drawer

ON MEETING Wolfgang Schüssel, you cannot help but be reminded of Dick Van Dyke as the enthusiastic inventor in Cubby Broccoli’s Sixties children’s film classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

European Voice

7/22/98, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 3:38 AM CET

As an illustrator of children’s books, Austria’s foreign minister could be forgiven for cultivating a paternal but eccentric image. Indeed, his bow-tie has become a trademark; a sign he uses to autograph his sketches.

The dandyish bow-tie was the obvious butt for the jokes of outgoing president of the EU’s General Affairs Council, UK Foreign Minister Robin Cook, as he handed over to Schüssel at the end of last month.

While cynics might see such sartorial flourish as a ploy to cover up a lack of personal depth, in Schüssel’s case it seems there are some genuine depths to be explored. For once, a leading public figure seems to have a few more worthwhile hobbies than reading, watching football or playing tennis.The bow-tie “shows his artistic side”, is how one Austrian official explains Schüssel’s neckwear. But its adoption was not without its critics even within the foreign ministry when he arrived there early last year.

“People were divided about it,” says an official. “Some said, ‘Oh, my God! I can’t wear a bow-tie ever again’, while others imitated the habit.”The bow-tie dividing line mirrored the schism between the traditional, old-fashioned wing of the ministry and the more flexible younger generation, some of whom became Schüsselists.

The minister’s artistic side is demonstrated by his passion for illustrating children’s books. Believe it or not, he has just finished one on foreign policy called Das rotweißrote Weltkugelbuch (‘The red and white world book’ in reference to the Austrian flag).

His 11-year-old son Daniel introduces the book with a heart-rending complaint about how his father is so busy that he never gets to see him. “The book was meant to explain why that was,” says an official.

Indeed, the work was intended to be an infant primer on foreign affairs, although there may not be quite enough dinosaurs to keep the average target-reader happy.

Clintonesque jogging also appeals to Schüssel. One of his favourite gimmicks is to give counterparts he visits a pair of running shoes – even those who cannot remember the last time they had to walk anywhere. The determinedly anti-Olympian Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos almost had a heart attack when Schüssel proffered trainers.

His colleagues hint that, at least compared with others who have held the same job, Schüssel can be a little lazy, although they insist he will pull out all the stops over the six months of his presidency. “He is not someone who will work from 4am until 1am,” says one. “He is a very good delegator,” adds a polite colleague.To some of his hard-working officials, Schüssel comes across as a martinet. “He says something once and he expects it to get done,” explains one. “That seems tough to some. To others, it’s just a mark of his rationality.”Officials draw a contrast with his workaholic predecessor Alois Mock who, as minister, insisted on reading every document “to the last line”. Schüssel, like Robin Cook, likes his memos to be short.

“Just to hand over a long briefing paper is enough to put him in a bad mood. He likes to concentrate on the main tasks,” is how another source puts it.Schüssel came to the foreign ministry having served as minister for economic affairs and with, according to some, a tendency to view the world through economic-coloured glasses.

As chairman of the Österreichische Volkspartei (Austrian People’s Party), Schüssel’s economic views have tended to be distinctly Liberal with a capital ‘L’. He is a true believer in the German social market economy where the state merely sets the framework within which the private sector creates wealth but, at the same time, maintains a taut safety net for the casualties of the free market.

“But he very quickly caught fire with enthusiasm for the European cause and foreign affairs after he arrived at the ministry,” says one diplomat.

The collapse of the last government in October 1995 owed a lot to Schüssel’s demands for deep cuts in spending and radical reform of the social security system in order to meet the tough budgetary criteria for joining economic and monetary union.

The Social Democrats, who were pushing tax increases as an alternative cure, blamed Schüssel for what they said was an unnecessary general election. Yet he survived at the foreign ministry despite the desire of some on the left to see him swing for his crimes.

He took over the ÖVP chairmanship in a coup at the April 1995 party congress, succeeding Erhard Busek and replacing the party’s ministers in the governing coalition, including then Foreign Minister Mock.That episode underlined Schüssel’s readiness to unsheathe long knives when necessary – and his failure to rule out the possibility of forming a coalition with far-right leader Jörg Haider during last year’s election campaign did not go unnoticed. Although he made his distaste for Haider’s racist programme known, a number of observers were depressed at Schüssel’s readiness to confer political respectability on a man they deemed to be a potential second Hitler.Schüssel’s support for taking Austria into the EU was an issue on which he dived overboard to secure a cherished political objective.During the country’s referendum campaign he threatened devaluation, recession and even real wage cuts should membership be rejected. So apocalyptic were his warnings that the central bank governor felt obliged to issue a soothing economic message to the population.Since Austria supported membership of the EU in the vote, these threats were never put to the test, but unemployment did become a problem after entry and was blamed by the country’s electorate on the Union. This was one key factor in the rise of Haider’s Freedom Party in the European Parliament elections late last year.

Haider is forever a ghost at Schüssel’s feast. Although he officially puts enlargement of the Union into eastern Europe at the top of his agenda, the foreign minister has to tread very carefully over the immigration issue, amid widespread fears that a flood of economic migrants will pour into Austria.

He nevertheless showed unusual commitment to the cause with his decision to visit all five front-running east European candidates as Austria took over the EU presidency, defying an age-old tradition whereby East visits West and not the other way round.

But Schüssel’s enthusiasm for rapid enlargement will not detract from his tough negotiating style, say officials. His uncompromising message to the candidate countries was, said one, that “the speed of enlargement is a matter for you”.

Apart from visiting eastern Europe, one of Schüssel’s first actions on assuming the presidency was to send his general-secretary for foreign affairs and Balkans specialist Albert Rohan to check out the situation on the ground in Kosovo. “He was the first minister to submit a plan for stopping the violence on both sides,” says one of his loyal aides.

To some, Schüssel’s most appealing feature is his willingness to insult high-level politicians and bureaucrats.He is reported to have called Bundesbank president Hans Tietmeyer “a real pig”, Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson “a dunce”, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright “an old Bette Davis” and EU Research Commissioner Edith Cresson “an old bag”.The coming six months could be fun.

BIO7 June 1945: Born in Vienna, went on to attend well-known grammar school (Schottengymnasium)1968: Doctorate in law at Vienna University1968-75: Secretary of the parliamentary group of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP)1975-91: Secretary-general of the Austrian Business Federation, a sub-organisation of the ÖVP1989-95: Minister for economic affairs in the ÖVP/SPÖ coalition government under Chancellor Franz VranitzkyApril 1995: Elected leader of the ÖVP at 30th party congressMay 1995: Vice-chancellor and federal minister for foreign affairsJanuary 1997- Vice-chancellor and federal minister for foreign affairs under Chancellor Viktor Klima.